RICHMOND — The world has all the uranium it needs for the next 100 years, said a researcher with the Southwest Research and Information Center.
Paul Robinson, research director of the center in Albuquerque, N.M., said if current uranium demand remains the same, the world will have enough uranium for 100 years.
“It’s very difficult to find a shortage of this material,” Robinson said during a uranium symposium held at the Richmond Center Stage for the Performing Arts Thursday.
The symposium was sponsored by the Southern Environmental Law Center, Dan River Basin Association, Friends of the Earth, the Piedmont Environmental Council, Sierra Club, Virginia Conservation Network and Virginia Interfaith Power and Light.
About 150 people attended the event.
Patrick Wales, geologist and spokesman for Virginia Uranium Inc., attended the symposium, calling it an “anti-uranium pep rally.”
“We (VUI) support that they want to have an open discussion,” Wales said. “I just wish it was a little more balanced.”
VUI seeks to mine and mill a 119-million-pound ore deposit at Coles Hill, about six miles northeast of Chatham. Virginia has had a moratorium on uranium mining since 1982.
The National Research Council, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences, is conducting a study to determine whether uranium can be mined and milled safely in the commonwealth.
Robinson said uranium mining and milling wastes make up to 10 times the volume of ore mined and milled, and the waste — or tailings — is the largest source of potential environmental contaminants.
“The tailings are a source of risk,” Robinson said.
Doug Brugge, associate professor at Tufts University’s School of Medicine, also spoke at the symposium and said 6,000 uranium miners have been compensated by the federal government due to exposure to radon, a byproduct of uranium mining.
Uranium is also hazardous due to its heavy metal properties, which causes kidney damage and birth defects in animals, Brugge said.
“It’s a heavy metal, a chemical toxin, like lead and mercury and cadmium,” Brugge said.
Across town, pro-energy groups held an event at the Jefferson Hotel in Richmond on the same day.
The Summit on Virginia’s Energy Future was sponsored by the Virginia Petroleum Council and Virginia Manufacturer’s Association.
A panel of energy industry officials spoke on the benefits of developing Virginia’s energy resources, including nuclear and renewable energies, as well as oil and natural gas.
During an interview after the event, David Heacock, president and chief nuclear officer with Dominion Virginia Power, said the Coles Hill project would provide American-produced uranium to purchasers.
“It would be nice to have the opportunity to buy uranium in the United States,” Heacock said, adding that U.S. companies buy uranium from Australia, Canada and Russia.
Heacock disputed Robinson’s claim that demand for uranium is low.
“I don’t think that’s accurate,” he said.
A start-up nuclear reactor has to use three times as much uranium as normal in its first year of operation, Heacock said.
There are 400 nuclear plants in the world and 56 more are under construction, with 16 being built in China, he said.
Crane is a staff writer for the Danville Register and Bee.
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